BEHAVIORISM

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human behavior as a product of environmental forces (radical empiricism) learning is the reassortment of responses in a complex situation. - it is the result of conditioning human behavior not a function of needs or drives

B. F. SKINNER
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born 1904, Pennsylvania graduated PBK in English literature attempted writing, had "nothing important to say" 1928 enrolled Harvard graduate school, psychology, interested by Pavlovs writings, doctoral dissertation on conditioned reflexes 1938, The Behavior or Organisms 1947 professor at Harvard - radical behaviorist, Walden II (1948) 1968, The Technology of Teaching died 1990 OPERANT CONDITIONING concerned with how environments control behavior legacy of Pavlov (1849-1936) - Nobel Prize, 1904 (respondent conditioning) Type S conditioning (respondent - response elicited and paired), and < Type R conditioning (operant - response emitted and reinforced) < behavior is determined by its consequences organism "operates" on environment < power of reinforcement - any stimulus or event following a response that < leads to the response strengthening (The only defining characteristic of a reinforcing stimulus is that it reinforces (Skinner, 1953, p. 72). reinforcers are situation- and context-specific < important concepts: extinction, schedules of reinforcement, positive < and negative reinforcers, primary and secondary reinforcers, shaping, generalization, discrimination, Premack Principle, behavior modification, programmed instruction, contingency contracts
If the occurrence of an operant is followed by presentation of a reinforcing stimulus, the strength is increased . . . if the occurrence of an operant already strengthened through conditioning is not followed by the reinforcing stimulus, the strength is decreased. (Skinner, 1938, p. 21)

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SD -----------> R -----------> SR

CONTRIBUTIONS
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Greatly advanced our understanding of behavior. Put psychology on scientific footing. Principles are general and apply to animals and humans, to simple and complex behaviors, to learning and to motivation. Many of the fundamental assumptions about human behavior on which the theory is based appear to be accurate. Emphasized inductive theory-building methodology. Formulation of laws of behavior. Practical applications in many areas. especially mental health and education < Spurred empirical research. Process of behavior modification and conditioning - easy to implement. Concept of reinforcement.

CRITICISMS
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Reductionistic view that complex behaviors can be understood if broken down into smaller < units Narrow definition of behavior Narrow definition of learning - no distinction between learning and performance Of mice and men (Green, 1989) - human behavior from that of rats try and train 30 rats at one time! < Operant conditioning offers an incomplete explanation of human behavior because of its neglect of human thought processes. Failure to appreciate importance of internal, cognitive, mental private < events (creativity? thought? self-reflection?)
"A behavioristic analysis does not question the practical usefulness of reports of the inner world that is felt and introspectively observed. They are clues (a) to past behavior and the conditions affecting it, (b) to current behavior and the conditions affecting it, and (c) to conditions related to future behavior. Nevertheless, the private world within the skin is not clearly observed or known" (Skinner, 1974, p. 31).

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Ignores developmental differences and stages behaviorists do not believe they exist < Fails to deal with the source of behavioral change Fails to explain the process of knowledge or meaning construction underestimates the extent to which children spontaneously learn from an < intrinsic interest token rewards lead to token learning? < Experimental situations lead to biased results and loss of context Lack of naturalistic observation Too extreme an environmentalistic outlook (Crain, 1985) View of individual as devoid of free will - deterministic (is free will an illusion?)